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A prominent Seattle lawyer and a scion of a prominent Seattle family are suing a prominent politician -- U.S. Senate candidate Mike McGavick -- over his lucrative retirement package from a prominent Seattle company, Safeco. The intriguing cast of characters came together Tuesday in a shareholder lawsuit, heavy with political overtones, against Safeco's board of directors and McGavick, a Republican who was its chief executive. It was filed in federal court in Seattle. The complaint said Safeco paid the candidate $28.4 million in early 2006 in an illegal "waste of corporate assets" after he resigned to run against Democratic Sen....

Shareholder sues McGavick over Safeco pay 05:26 PM PDT on Tuesday, August 1, 2006 Associated Press OLYMPIA, Wash. - A Safeco Insurance Co. shareholder sued Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Mike McGavick on Tuesday, claiming the former executive's $28 million payout for leaving the company was fraudulent and wasteful. The claim resembles criticism from Washington state Democrats, who already have filed a federal campaign complaint about what they called McGavick's improper "golden parachute." McGavick has dismissed those complaints, but did not immediately return messages seeking comment on the lawsuit. Safeco spokesman Paul Hollie also declined immediate comment, saying company lawyers were...

Meet Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan. Most will recognize her name; she's the daughter of Missouri's late governor and posthumously elected U.S. Senator, Mel Carnahan. She's also the "Show Me" state's highest election official. Robin Carnahan doesn't merely administer elections. She's hell-bent on preventing them. Her short track record in public office demonstrates the dangers of partisan politicians holding offices on which mere little guys must depend for an honest democratic government. Oh, sure, she recently came up with more than a dozen reasons for counting votes on spoiled ballots in Rolla, Missouri — her decision yielding a one-vote...

(Hartford-AP, June 19, 2006 6:35 PM) _ Republicans in the state House of Representatives have filed a complaint accusing Democratic Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz of improperly helping four Democrats get on the November ballot. Republicans filed the complaint today with the State Elections Enforcement Commission. But Bysiewicz denies the accusation. She says Attorney General Richard Blumenthal told her she has the discretion to place the four House of Representatives candidates on the ballot, even though they missed deadlines to file paperwork.The four Democrats include Representatives Mary Mushinsky of Wallingford, Terry Backer of Milford and Claire Janowski of Vernon,...

The chairman of the Summit County Democratic Party was scheduled to be arraigned July 26 after allegations he offered a candidate money to drop out of a Democratic primary. Rob Weyher, 54, has been charged in Salt Lake County Justice Court with one class B misdemeanor count of prohibited elections activity, inducements not to become a candidate. The charge stems from a voice message left at the home of candidate Josh Ewing's employer May 14, offering to contribute money to Ewing if he withdrew from the House District 25 race. A criminal complaint filed in court details what the caller...

A small, weekend item in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer was missed by many, yet it's another example of a dubious trend: liberal Democrats switching between journalism and partisan political positions..... (AND) Election Decision Live Blogging GOP Loses First Round In Gubernatorial Challenge...

A Washington state judge found that more than 1600 votes were illegally cast in the gubernatorial election last year. They were nearly all cast in overwhelmingly Demonrat-controlled regions, and constitute several times the margin of "victory" by the Demonrat candidate, Christinie Gregoire. The judge acknowledged the injury due to the fraud. But, he found that as defined by the Washington State election statute the fraud provided no basis for overturning election. The statute states that the challenging party would have to not only demonstrate that fraud occured, but that the perpetrators of the fraud intended to commit fraud. Merely being...

A judge on Monday upheld Washington's 2004 gubernatorial election, rejecting Republicans' bid to nullify the 129-vote victory of Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire. Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges denied Republican claims that election errors, illegal voters and fraud stole the election from GOP candidate Dino Rossi. He announced his decision in court, saying the state's election process was flawed but that he was not the proper person to remedy those flaws. "This court is not in the position to fix the deficiencies in the election process," Bridges said. "However, the voters are in a position to demand of their...

A state judge has upheld the election of Washington Governor Christine Gregoire. In turning back the Republican challenge to the Democrat, Judge John Bridges says there was no evidence of fraud in last fall's election. The judge did find there were more than 1,600 illegal votes, but he says it's up to voters to fix errors in the state's election system. Republicans have said they will appeal to the state Supreme Court.

OK, this thread may be partially vanity...but it looks like breaking news based upon what I'm reading on the soundpolitics web site. Go there and read it for yourselves...but it looks like the county jdge isn't gonna allow a new election. This looks bad for democracy. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Live thread, discuss.

SATURDAY, JUNE 04, 2005 12:00 AM Georgia state senator convicted on 127 federal corruption charges Associated Press AUGUSTA--A federal jury found Georgia state Sen. Charles Walker guilty Friday of using his once-powerful position for personal gain, including skimming profits from a charity football game. Walker, the Senate majority leader from 1996 to 2002, was convicted of 127 of 137 counts, including mail fraud, conspiracy, campaign finance fraud and tax fraud.He left the courthouse surrounded by lawyers and family members, without speaking to a horde of reporters. He then got into a black sport utility vehicle and sped off. "Justice has...

AUGUSTA — A federal jury found state Sen. Charles Walker guilty Friday of using his once-powerful position for personal gain, including skimming profits from a charity football game. Walker, the Senate majority leader before losing re-election in 2002, was convicted of 127 of 137 counts, including mail fraud, conspiracy, campaign finance fraud and tax fraud. He left the courthouse surrounded by lawyers and family members, without speaking to a horde of reporters. He then got into a black sport utility vehicle and sped off. Richard Goolsby, the prosecutor, said: ‘‘Justice has been served.’’ No sentencing date was set for the...

The Wisconsin Supreme Court won't hear former state Sen. Brian Burke's request to dismiss charges against him stemming from a probe into allegations of illegal campaigning. Burke, a Milwaukee Democrat, was charged with 13 felony counts in connection with the investigation, including misconduct in office, falsifying per diem payments and destroying records. Prosecutors say he used state employees to run his campaign for attorney general in 2002. He is set to stand trial in late October. His attorneys contend Wisconsin law on using state resources for political activity is unconstitutionally vague. They asked the Supreme Court last week for a...

Vote fraud trial halted after puzzling testimony By Michael Shaw Of the Post-Dispatch 06/03/2005 The judge in the federal vote fraud trial of five East St. Louis Democrats sent the jury home early on Friday as lawyers puzzled over how to handle testimony from an FBI informer that was patently false. Under cross examination, prosecution witness Dannita Youngblood repeatedly claimed that she was not interviewed by a federal prosecutor and an FBI agent a few weeks prior to trial, despite voluminous documents and reports to the contrary. Youngblood has testified during the past two days about vote buying in East...

Thursday Update on the East St. Louis Voter Fraud Trial...Former Belleview "Racist" Mayor is in the spotlight in today's testitmony.Dannita Youngblood 30, testified during the trial of five Democratic politicians in East St. Louis that one of the defendants, her former East St. Louis city hall boss Kelvin Ellis (who operated a prostitution ting from City Hall), told Kern during the October call that the price to pay a voter would have to be increased. In October, Kern (the former Belleville Mayor) was the Democratic candidate for the chairman's job.

WENATCHEE, Wash. - The judge hearing a challenge to Washington state's 2004 gubernatorial election agreed Tuesday to let Republicans introduce evidence that Democratic-leaning King County recorded several hundred more votes than it could account for. Republicans allege errors and possible fraud in the county, which includes Seattle, helped Democrats steal the election for Christine Gregoire, who beat Republican Dino Rossi by 129 votes out of 2.9 million cast. "The evidence is overwhelming that there was unbelievable neglect in King County and, we believe, outright fraud by high-ranking King County officials," GOP attorney Dale Foreman said Monday. Democrats had tried to...

Sandy Berger is caught cramming top-secret intelligence documents down the front of his pants. Dan Rather is caught using forged documents to try to influence a presidential election. John Kerry slanders a million of his "band of brothers" in bogus testimony before Congress and then continues to lie for the next 30 years, claiming that in 1968 he was sent by Richard Nixon (who wasn’t president yet) to Cambodia on Christmas eve (which never happened), hearing the Vietnamese "sing Christmas carols" (the Vietnamese are Buddhists and don't celebrate Christmas) and being fired upon by the Khmer Rouge (which didn't become...

Harrisburg – What do a bar, a vacant funeral home, an abandoned rowhouse and a Democratic Party headquarters have in common? They're all places that Philadelphia residents will be forced to vote in this year's primary election. Even after the illegitimacy of sixty-three polling places was brought to the attention of the Philadelphia County Board of Elections in 2004, the city's Democratic establishment continues to look the other way when it comes to providing a legal, safe, and fair vote. “This year's recently released list includes a whopping one-hundred and twelve polling places that are either illegal, inaccessible, or could...

NASHVILLE - State Sen. John Ford sharply criticized Wednesday both a state board that fined him $10,000 earlier in the day and Gov. Phil Bredesen, who said he will talk to the TBI about Ford's contacting him on a TennCare contract. Ford said the Registry of Election Finance was applying "a double standard" by levying a penalty against him for using $15,320 in campaign funds to pay part of his daughter's wedding expenses last year. He said the "stupid" decision will be appealed. Ford said Bredesen had made "two or three statements about me that are totally untrue. "I'm not...